Ranger's Apprentice: Tides of the North
by Ixous
Summary: Hullo all my first fic so please review OC and back story until I get the plot rolling. Still very new to writing but hoping that this goes far! OC as one of the main characters but all your fave's are here too! mostly cannon, set after nihon-ja


Hullo all my first fic so please review OC and back story until I get the plot rolling. Also I know this was originally posted by Angmooren but that's me. I simply cant remember which of my emails I linked Ang too, so I started over As Ixous. I'm going back and rewriting my old story now that I am in my opinion more mature and have more experience under my belt. Still very new to this author thing and would love criticism. Flames OK, just keep them acceptable to other readers please!

/ October 12th 2011/ Northern Illinois/ Orrison household.

/

The gray old house that dominated the small hill at the top of Dresdan lane was simple. A non-descript car, plain shingles. All that jazz. The only thing that was Remarkable was the people who lived there; Ixous Ecko Orrison, along with his father Amroth, and his mother Alaina. They lived a simple life. Not wanting or needing the fancy cars that lined the streets below them. Or the fancy stereos that they heard every night.

They had books. And lots of them. Walls and walls of books, the living room was like a library. The storage room like five libraries. The attic with its bay window and little seat that overlooked the nearby forest reserve is where Ixous lay, reading a book. Ixous himself was a wonderfully strange boy. Standing at near seven feet this young man was a sight to see. His skin was pale, his eyes sharp and focused. Being blessed or cursed with Heterochromia his eyes were different colors, one golden one jade. Due to his immense size it was a wonder that he was so agile and fast, but this was from being picked on at school, he was that kid that always had a book in his hands and cared not if his long black hair tied back with a leather strip annoyed his teacher. He was the one that set the grave curves and did well on every aspect of school except the social aspect. His body while not muscled was fit and had layers of muscle under the extremely thin layer of body fat. He was other wise nondescript. In a white half casual half formal button up sleeved shirt and wore his standard black with white thread jeans. No silly logos adorned them.

The title of that book was Rangers Apprentice book 5: The Sorcerer of the North. It was a fantastic read. In Ixous' opinion it was one of the best he had ever read. He longed to go to the fields and shores of Araluen. He wanted to become a ranger. The cloaked mysterious ways of the order called to him like a sirens song.

He mindlessly flipped a page, then as if thinking better of it. He closed the book and made his way to the stairs. He slowly descended and went outside, with every intention of going for a walk in the nearby forest reserve. Which oddly, was named Barton-Treaty forest preserve.

Upon arrival to his favorite spot in the woods he camped out under the oldest tree he could find and curled up with his book. This is when it all went wrong, when he turned the second to last page of the book a drop of red fell as if from the heavens and landed in the center of the page. Eyes flashed upwards just in time to see a tree branch break loose from the trunk as if on its own accord. He heard the snap and knew, that there wasn't enough time to move away.

A few hours later Amroth searched the house for his son but finding nothing knew that his son was probably out reading a book in the woods. However it was getting close to dark so he sent a text message to Alaina and then set off into the woods to search for his son. After walking to ixous' favorite game trail he quickly and near silently ghosted along the quite twilight path. Nearing the third hour of his search he found his son. Laying comatose under old oak tree, blood was pooled on the side of his head and a heavy branch lay across him. He knew this was bad, he started to feel that panic set in and lifted his son, half walking half running back down the trail.

The hospital ran several tests over a span of three or four days. All the while Ixous never woke, never spoke. The doctors declared him comatose. So it was there in that sterile white room, that the two parents looked at each other and knew they may never see their son again.

/ month of Junest. Second week. Fifth year of Araluen – Skandian treaty/ southern fields of Redmont fief./

Ixous groaned. His head felt as it had been split with a blunt ax. Exhaustion overcame him suddenly. As if he had traveled a great many miles. Blearily he opened his eyes, and gasped. Gone were the trees of gold and brown leaves. Instead there were green fields, Lush cherry tree groves, and pale blue sky. And in the distance…. A castle?

He stood which was a mistake as his knees gave out and it was several moments before he found them again. He slowly made his way to the top of the small convex hill. His jaw dropped. That banner was unmistakable a Red castle over a hill was the simple device upon its field. He knew against better judgment that it was Redcliffe castle. He was in Araluen.


End file.
